This salad chain banned Sriracha and bacon for a ridiculous reason — and customers are freaking out

Sweetgreen is cutting bacon and Sriracha from the menu,
saying "it's time to make America healthy again."

The fast-casual salad chain
announced the change in a
Medium post, which was emailed to customers on Tuesday
morning.

Cutting bacon and Sriracha is
part of the debut of a new menu that the chain is
calling "Healthy 2.0." In addition to cutting the
less-than-healthy ingredients, Sweetgreen is making warm
portobello and roasted steelhead menu mainstays. The chain is
also removing 70% of the sugars in beverages, instead
sweetening with minimal honey or agave.

While few would argue that bacon or Sriracha are health foods, it
seems unlikely adding either ingredient to a salad
packed with nutrients would negate its nutritional
value — especially when items like the pesto vinaigrette, with 22
grams of fat and 190 calories, remain on the menu.
However, Sweetgreen says
that the change was necessary to stay ahead of the competition
and craft a truly healthy menu.

Hollis
Johnson

The salad chain didn't explore
its exact reasoning for removing bacon and Sriracha,
and adding portobello and roasted steelhead, except to say
the changes are intended to make the menu "more nutritious and
delicious," and arethe result of a year of work
from the food and beverage team. Sweetgreen's head chefMichael Stebner explained the
change in the Medium post, writing:

We're going to change the way
restaurants in this country cook. Because of the access and
footprint we have, we're on the biggest soapbox there is. That's
why I came to work for Sweetgreen, that's why I’m here. Because I
want to stop cooking for myself and start cooking for the world.
Because it’s time to make America healthy again.

Some customers are less than happy about the change, taking
to social media to complain about the loss of bacon and
Sriracha.